The Cannibal Dynamo

On Jorge Remacha Pina’s Claveles de la calle (“Street Carnations”)

In these critical times because of COVID-19 pandemic — so hard to control by now — we all have heard opposing voices to the measures that governments worldwide are imposing on their citizens so as to overcome the problem: mostly, they claim a drastic change in the state of affairs. It is truly coincidental that this very year has seen the publication of this book (before the pandemic declaration in Spain) consisting of 30 poems: verses free from classical forms, and openly contrary to the rules of the social system. Thus, unexpectedly topical.

We can easily see the first poem, “Juramento” (“Oath”), as a true statement of intent on the main theme of the book: the poet’s commitment to social issues, in favor of the most helpless: the poor, the fallen, the hard working class … Even this statement is extended in another poem, “Nadie está mirando” (“Nobody Is Watching”), focusing on the most disadvantaged: prostitutes, drug addicts, repressed homosexuals, minors undergoing psychological problems, etc.

The reality depicted by Remacha Pina lacks humanity: in “Te Deum,” God is technology: a divinity cruel to mankind who provides miserable working conditions for His servants. “Saben lo que haces” (“They Know What You’re Doing”) expresses the idea of society as a system where individuals are ominously controlled. In another poem, “La vida se abre camino” (“Life Paving the Way”), the poet suggests that today’s lifestyle only leads to making an army of zombies: exhausted workers whose whole bodies ache; in addition, the citizen is compared to a slave in “Yo robot” (“I Robot”): the poetic voice uses expressions related to computing to evince this dehumanization; love is a lost file in the system, and the poet wants to recover it.

The city is represented as a prison where happiness is impossible to pursue: “Sincronía” (“Synchrony”). The noise from the television in “Sosiego encofrado” (“Framed Quietness”) conceals the feelings of all the members of a family; in a block of buildings, each and every inhabitant suffers anguish in their small cubicles. Moreover, in “Pesada sentencia” (“Heavy Sentence”), the monotonous life that society entails could inevitably drive to despair and, in consequence, suicide.

The situation for the youth is no better: “La hormiga más pequeña del mundo” (“The Smallest Ant in the World”) deals with this generation — Remacha Pina’s generation — regarded as the best prepared to success; however, they have precarious, less-paid works. Porn and video chat seem to be the uncomplicated oases in their colorless lives, but this actually shows an obvious lack of affection. In “El viaje del desarraigo” (“The Journey to Uprooting”), the poet portrays weekends for teenagers as chances for casual sex and fast relief, in opposition to schools, factories and juvenile detention centers undermining their desire for freedom: the system does tame. In other poems — “Cuento de sábado noche” (“Saturday Night Tale”), “De vuelta a casa” (“Way Back Home”), “Claveles de la calle II” (“Street Carnations II”) — we can still find other examples of confusion and listlessness in this lost generation: drugs, clubbing, prostitution, sordid sex as an appealing combination for a trip to ephemeral comfort … though no place to call home.

Of course, here in spanishgayfiction.blogspot.com we never miss our goal: there are two enchanting, committed poems dealing with the LGBT issue. First, “Inapropiadas” (“Unsuitable Women”), in which the poet tells about a couple of lesbians breaking social taboos by walking down the street holding hands and kissing. They decided not to follow the traditional rules imposed to women — marrying a man or becoming a nun — and eventually won the fight: the people that used to spit them out on the street in the past, they now step aside. Then, in “No sé si queda claro” (“Not Sure If I Make Myself Clear”), the poetic voice claims that he has been raised with a steady, staggering social objection to his natural way of being: the adult now refuses to keep afraid of not fitting in, or even suffer verbal or physical abuse. And this personal rebellion is precisely a key fact in these compositions: the poet’s indelibly positive attitude, regardless the hostile circumstances.

Remacha Pina, in “Siempre buscando una salida” (“Always Looking for an Exit”), speaks about the compelling need to raise a fist and wave a flag; stand up and light a torch. Fear has been silencing diverse voices for a long time, prompting to a general anger. (We can find a similar idea in “Neurosis:” this mental disorder means, after all, the anxiety caused by the awareness of the actual state of reality, which appeals to defiance). Those who do not conform to the pattern of this world endure contempt, or even aggressions: there is an urging demand to put an end to these social rules, which want to finish with the different ones, in order to seek true freedom. To this end, the author displays inspiring examples from the past. . .

There is a constant remembrance of revolutions throughout the book, but particularly in the poem “Ni cadenas ni corsés” (“Neither Chains Nor Corsets”): the French Revolution, the February Revolution, the Kurdish rebellions, the Paris Commune, the Stonewall riots, the Egyptian revolution of 2011, etc. (As a matter of fact, the poem is dedicated to the international socialist feminist organization Bread & Roses.)

However, the most ruthless skeptics may wonder: What will happen after the tables turn? Well, the last month of the year, “Diciembre” (“December”), implies a metaphor for the end of hard times and the beginning of a favorable adjustment with an excellent result: fruitfulness, like the arrival of spring.

Claveles de la calle is a heartening collection of disturbing, bewildering, awe-inspiring poems with a clear message to the reader: a better life is possible if you just fight for it. Like the panther from “La ley de la selva” (“The Law of the Jungle”) — who grew docile and became another piece of the social gear … but eventually regained her natural self-awareness and turned into a panther again — you are also cordially invited to the revolution.